Pro Bono Practice and Opportunities in South Africa

Section 4 of the Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014 (the Act) establishes the South African Legal Practice Council, granting it full legal authority and jurisdiction over all legal practitioners, i.e., attorneys and advocates, both practising and non-practising (including in-house counsel), and candidate legal practitioners.

Section 26 of the Act specifies that a Bachelor of Laws degree is necessary to practise law in South Africa. This degree must be obtained from a South African law school. If the degree is acquired outside of South Africa, the South African Qualifications Authority must confirm that it is equivalent to the South African Bachelor of Laws degree.

Additionally, candidates must be South African citizens or permanent residents. To be admitted and enrolled as a legal practitioner, candidates must complete all practical vocational training requirements and pass a competency-based examination, regardless of whether their law degree was obtained in South Africa or abroad.

Legal practitioners are admitted by the High Court and enrolled by the Legal Practice Council.

The Act stipulates that one of the requirements for admission and enrolment is that practical vocational training that candidate legal practitioners must undergo should include community service.

The Act provides that regulations must prescribe the community service requirements to be undertaken by candidate legal practitioners as a component of their training and the minimum period of recurring community service by legal practitioners upon which continued enrolment as a legal practitioner is dependent.

No.

In terms of the Act, foreign lawyers need to qualify as legal practitioners in South Africa in order to provide pro bono legal services if the nature of those services is one restricted to practising legal practitioners.

No person other than a practising legal practitioner may, in expectation of any fee, commission, gain, or reward, appear in any court or before any board or tribunal in which only legal practitioners may appear, or draw up or execute any document relating to or required for use in any court proceedings.

A foreign lawyer could therefore provide pro bono services in any other area of law where such activities are not required.

Notwithstanding the wording of the Act, South African courts will not permit anyone who is not a legal practitioner to represent anyone else in court, even if no fee is to be charged.

On 11 August 2023, amendments to the regulations under section 94(1) of the Legal Practice Act, 2014, were published. These amendments aim to broaden access to justice and enhance the protection provided by section 34 of the Constitution, which ensures the right to a fair public hearing for dispute resolution.

Under the new regulations, legal practitioners, including practising and candidate legal practitioners, must complete a specified number of community service hours (pro bono is included in this) to maintain good standing with the Legal Practice Council (LPC). From 1 January 2024, practising legal practitioners are required to perform a minimum of 40 community service hours annually, while candidate legal practitioners must complete at least 8 community service hours each year.^[4]

The Legal Practice Council expects candidate attorneys to complete eight hours of community service (which includes pro bono) per year.

No.

Lawyers do not receive any CLE or equivalent credit for pro bono hours worked.

There is no statutory requirement that lawyers in South Africa should have professional indemnity legal insurance cover for any pro bono legal services that they provide. However, every attorney who practises for their own account or as a partner or who is a director of a practice that is a juristic entity, and every advocate who is entitled to take instructions directly for a client, must be in possession of a Fidelity Fund certificate, and through this a first layer of professional indemnity insurance is automatically provided, presently at no cost.

There are certain exclusions (such as cybercrime) and excesses in some cases, and the cover provided is on a sliding scale, depending on the number of partners or directors in the practice, which currently ranges from ZAR1,562,500 for one practitioner to ZAR3,125,000 for 14 practitioners and above.

Not expressly, but the Code of Conduct published by the Legal Practice Council has general provisions relating to publicity, and these also apply to pro bono services.

These include requirements that any advertising or other publicity is made in a manner that does not bring the legal profession into disrepute, is not offensive or inappropriate, does do not misrepresent the nature of the service offered, and does not refer to a client by name in any publicity or advertisement published unless the prior written consent of the client had been obtained.

Criminal law is the primary focus, and given the socio-economic challenges in South Africa, there is a significant need for representation in civil proceedings as well. While Legal Aid South Africa believes it has met its targets regarding new and concluded cases in both civil and criminal legal services, the rising demand for civil legal services challenges its civil practitioners to deliver client-centred services while also adhering to the stringent time requirements of civil practice. The private sector is starting to complement the services offered by Legal Aid South Africa, although funding and capacity remain limited in both areas.

In addition, while historically South African firms reported involvement in areas like economic development, microfinance, education and employment, the most recent TrustLaw Index of Pro Bono suggests some decline in these specific focus areas, indicating evolution in the types of pro bono work being undertaken.^[5]

The main providers of pro bono legal services are law firms and individual legal practitioners, law clinics (mainly operated by universities), and Legal Aid South Africa. In addition to these opportunities, legal practitioners may also provide pro bono legal services through legal NGOs and clearing houses, which source and allocate work, such as ProBono.Org.

The Empire Partner Foundation has developed a digital case management solution for ProBono.Org to enhance access to justice, streamline operations, and support underserved communities, reinforcing their commitment to using technology for social change.^[6]

Justice Lab Africa works at the intersection of law, access to justice, and technology. They build free digital legal tools designed to help ordinary people understand and enforce their rights. Law firms and lawyers can contribute pro bono hours by providing legal expertise to help develop or review these tools which makes legal AI more accurate and impactful for underserved users.^[7]

The main non-governmental sources of pro bono and/or other pro bono resources in South Africa are as follows:

• ProBono.Org, for example, focuses specifically on connecting individuals seeking pro bono representation with attorneys ^[8]
• The Legal Resources Center ^[9]
• Lawyers for Human Rights ^[10]
• Center for Child Law ^[11]
• Socio Economic Rights Institute of South Africa ^[12]
• The Southern Africa Litigation Center ^[13]
• Section 27 ^[14]

ProBono.org, Legal Aid South Africa, and the Legal Practice Council offer the best resources for local and foreign lawyers interested in providing pro bono representation in South Africa.

ProBono.org has multiple legal awards for pro bono work.

The Legal Practice Council, as regulator of the profession, will in due course have records of all community service hours worked (and this will include pro bono services), but it is not known whether any of this information will be made public, by way of rankings or otherwise.